Prelude: The Aegean KingsIn Hellenistic contexts such as the Greek-dominated poleis as well as the Asiatic and Aegean holdings of the Ptolemaic kingdom, the king is clearly defined in his role as king, albeit in a sacred capacity typical of the Hellenistic era, and artistic conventions remain strikingly Hellenistic, even on coins distributed in Egypt.…

the perspective that the rulers of the dynasty were “doing it right” until the formula was changed and bad decisions were made does not do it proper justice. The Ptolemaic dynasty was something entirely new for Egypt and the Hellenistic kingdoms in general were something that the Mediterranean had not yet seen although they built…

Much of the older scholarship on the topic either brushes off the “Roman-ness” of the province of Egypt and quarantines from the discussion of bureaucratic administration elsewhere in the Empire and that completely disregards the radical changes Egypt underwent in the Roman period. To break down to its simplest, the old methods of bureaucracy (extensive…

This depends on what customs and practices we are talking about, as the heraldric and ideological traditions were almost universally tailored to meet the individual cultural contexts of the successor states. To narrow the playing field a bit I am going to focus on established tradition by the dynasty as represented by the royal family…

In a word, relations between Ptolemaic Egypt and the Roman Republic were complicated but I am going to force a few hundred more words on you talking about this so be warned. From 323-225 BCE there is little to no evidence of any meaningful diplomatic contact between the two although both had an interest in…

This sounds a bit confusing (because it is and the exact terms on which identity was negotiated in Hellenistic Egypt are still being unraveled) but the key points are easy to grasp and actually make a lot of sense. More than being a kind of racial or ancestral categorization the way that we see ethnicity…

There were certainly long term effects as the dynasties established by his generals following his demise lasted for centuries and spurred on the Hellenistic Era which was both a period of growth and advancement for Hellenism and lead to new and distinct cultures emerging in the Near East and North Africa. Over the next 3…

Gods and Men in Egypt: 3000 BCE to 395 CE edited by Françoise Dunand and Christiane Zivie-Coche. Arguably the single best overview of ancient Egyptian religion. This volume is meant to be accessible to both scholars and casual historians and examines the functions, meanings and rituals of religion in ancient Egypt from the Early Dynastic…

Ancient Egyptian Literature by Miriam Lichtheim. This collection consists of Old and Middle Kingdom literature (Volume I), New Kingdom literature (Volume II), and Late Period literature (Volume III). Lichtheim’s translations are as literal as possible while remaining easily readable English. http://amzn.to/2xynlO6 The Literature of Ancient Egypt: An Anthology of Stories, Instructions, Stelae, Autobiographies, and Poetry…

The Art of Ancient Egypt by Gay Robins. This is the standard textbook on ancient Egyptian art. It covers Egyptian art from the Early Dynastic period to Late Period and is filled with beautiful color photographs. https://amzn.to/3SZcI0U An Introduction to the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt by Kathryn Bard. The best overview of Egyptian archaeology from…